Chapter 562 – Confirmation
A servant came in and served them something to drink. Because the battle didn’t take too long, and since the other party were using long-ranged weapons, the damage on the Hurricane Family’s freighter wasn’t very serious.
The group sat down as Kristen dictated the events before the attack. Although the Hurricane Family was constantly low-key and rarely did business, it was inevitable that they would have to trade some goods with the others. However, their trades weren’t on the scale as large as that of the other Great Clans.
For Great Clans to maintain their strength, they needed to have some form of sustaining that strength. Even if the Hurricane Family didn’t like to do business, it was unavoidable if they wanted to have their territory run normally. But because their family weren’t very good in it, they would just trade the minimum amount to maintain the normal operation of their territory.
This time, Kristen’s mission was to trade in Rosen Empire and then go back home. In Rosen Empire, they didn’t trade in Golden Island, but preferred Rising Water City instead. Their previous transactions were always done in Rising Water City. Even if Golden Island was on the Rise, the Hurricane Family didn’t seem to get attracted to it. They still continued their trade with Rising Water City all the same.
But when they were heading back, six five-masted battles.h.i.+ps bearing pirate flags suddenly surrounded them. Although they had the means to fight back, their firepower just cannot compare to the other party. And adding on to the fact the the enemies had battles.h.i.+ps while they only had a freighter, if Zhao Hai didn’t come, then they would surely be finished.
After Kristen finished talking, Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “We wanted to go visit the Buddha Empire, but we didn’t expect to encounter such a thing. But does sister Kristen feel strange? How could pirates get their hands on six five-masted battles.h.i.+ps?”
Kristen’s personality was the same as that of the Hurricane Family, as long as you don’t offend her, then she would treat you kindly. But this didn’t mean that the Hurricane Family were fools, on the contrary, they were quite smart people. They just placed this intellect in improving their magic and other things, but not for ambition. This was the general impression of the Continent towards the Hurricane Family.
When Kristen heard what Zhao Hai said, her eyes turned sharp for a moment before she looked at Zhao Hai and said, “What does mister want to say? Please speak.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “I suspect that the a.s.sailants weren’t pirates. Sister Kristen should know, most pirate groups in the seas have Great Clans supporting them. But with the Hurricane Family’s background, I believe that no pirate would want to attack you, moreover, pirates with great strength, am I right?”
Kristen nodded and said ,”That’s right. It’s just like mister said, our Hurricane Family has a lot of friends in the continent, and very few enemies.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said ,”What sister said is true. But even if you say there are few, that means that the Hurricane Family still had enemies. And did sister forget that you have one big enemy?’
Kristen stared, then she looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Is mister thinking about the Radiant Church?”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “That’s very possible. How about this, I’ll go call some of those undead on the battles.h.i.+ps and ask them. What do you think?”
Kristen seemed to not understand, then she looked at Zhao Hai and said, “You mean, you have turned everyone on those s.h.i.+ps into undead? Patriarch Zhao Hai, isn’t that bad?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Why would it be bad? I’ve turned hundreds of thousands of people in the Aksu Empire into undead. Why would I care about these few people?” He then stood up and walked outside.
Kristen looked at Zhao Hai’s back with eyes that showed loathing. The Hurricane Family were famously good-hearted people, therefore, they aren’t used to seeing Zhao Hai’s vicious and merciless actions.
However, she still followed Zhao Hai out of the cabin. This matter can affect the Hurricane Family’s future, she couldn’t just ignore it.
Zhao Hai didn’t care about it too much, he didn’t want to get in Kristen’s good graces anyway. The reason why he helped the Hurricane Family was because he wants the Radiant Church to have a harder time.
Outside the s.h.i.+p, Zhao Hai recited a few incantations before he waved his staff. Black gas started to appear from the staff and surrounded one battles.h.i.+p. When the gas disappeared, Kristen discovered that there were people standing on top of the s.h.i.+p’s deck.
Zhao Hai repeated the pattern and turned the people on the other battles.h.i.+ps into Undead. Then he had the battles.h.i.+ps approach the Hurricane Family’s freighter. Then some of the undead boarded the Hurricane Family’s s.h.i.+p.
Kristen had recognized some of these people from the time of the battle. Therefore, she didn’t suspect that Zhao Hai sent his undead to pretend.
After the undead boarded the s.h.i.+p, Zhao Hai immediately had them report who they were. The a.s.sailants weren’t pirates, but instead the navy of the Ocean Waves Dynasty. Ocean Waves Dynasty was the country most developed in the research of the Water element. Because of this, they had the most powerful Navy in continent.
However, even if these people were from the navy, they had nothing to do with the Radiant Church. They only thing that they knew was that they were ordered to attack, nothing more.
But Zhao Hai wasn’t worried, he asked these undead about which one of them was the commander of the six battles.h.i.+ps. Zhao Hai was already used to the Radiant Church’s style, it was impossible for the church to not send someone over to monitor the operation.
It didn’t take too long before these people named someone. So Zhao Hai immediately called the person over and interrogated him. Sure enough, he identified himself to be part of the Radiant Church. Moreover, his level wasn’t low, he was a Priest. This time, he was ordered by the Radiant Church to deal with the Hurricane Family, however, he didn’t know of anything else.
But this information was enough. At the very least, Zhao Hai wanted to let Kristen know that the ones who wanted to deal with the Hurricane Family were indeed the Radiant Church.
Zhao Hai had also confirmed his suspicions. The Radiant Church truly had control over the Ocean Waves Dynasty. Moreover, they had changed their methods into moving in secret.
After the interrogation, Zhao Hai made the undead return to the s.h.i.+ps and had them leave. Then he returned to the cabin along with Kristen.
Kristen was frowning, she felt that this matter has gotten quite th.o.r.n.y. Although the Radiant Church has been suppressed, their foundation was still intact. Even if their presence has been reduced, there were still people who wors.h.i.+pped their faith. The monarch of the other countries didn’t really see them as a threat. Aside from the Rosen and Aksu Empires, n.o.body really went full on in eliminating the church. Some Churches were even still present, with Priests preaching in them albeit the much lesser numbers.
Therefore, even if the Radiant Church was now behaving, they were still very strong. Kristen wasn’t a fool, she had deduced from the testimonies of the undead that the Ocean Waves Dynasty and the Radiant Church certainly didn’t have a simple relations.h.i.+p. It seems to be like what Zhao Hai thought, the Radiant Church had become much more formidable now that they were in the shadows.
Zhao Hai looked at Kristen and smiled faintly, “Sister Kristen, I just want to take this matter to heart. And since the matter is finished, then we would be taking our leave. We still have an urgent matter to take care of in the Buddha Empire.”
Kristen gawked and immediately responded. She was lowering her head in deep thought that she wasn’t able to talk to Zhao Hai, which was something very disrespectful. When she thought about this, Kristen’s face couldn’t help but turn red. She hastily stood up and gave a bow to Zhao Hai and said, “I’ve been unfair to mister. I was suddenly too absorbed in my own thoughts, so I neglected you. I ask for mister’s forgiveness. But why would mister leave immediately? Mister had done a great deal of help to us, please stay behind and let us express our grat.i.tude.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Sister is too polite. There’s no need to do that, to me, this is but a small effort. Moreover, I also obtained six battles.h.i.+ps, this can be said to be my reward. I really do have something to do in Buddha Empire, so sister shouldn’t feel bad.”
Kristen quickly replied, “What does mister need in the Buddha Empire? My Hurricane Family has some sort of influence there, maybe we can help mister.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “i’m travelling to Buddha Empire because I want to go to the Dwarf Mountain and see if I can do business with the Dwarven Race.”
Kristen couldn’t help but frown when she heard Zhao hai. The Dwarf Mountain held a special status in the Buddha Empire. The Empire needed heavy armors and weapons from the Dwarves. However, they also didn’t want the Dwarves to be too strong. So just like the Beastmen, the Humans controlled the amount of trades that would be sent to the Mountain. However, the Dwarves weren’t fools, as long as they notice that they had been deceived, they would surely declare war against the Buddha Empire.
So because of this, the Buddha Empire merchants didn’t dare to trick the Dwarves. However, the Empire still thought of a method. They wouldn’t let the merchants of other countries to contact the Dwarves, ensuring that they would have full monopoly of the Dwarven market.
Since the Empire was restricting trade, only a few merchants were able to make trade with the Dwarves for long term. Even Great n.o.bles didn’t have the opportunity to dictate themselves. Therefore, it was natural for Kristen’s expression to turn ugly upon hearing Zhao Hai’s words.
When Zhao Hai saw Kristen’s expression, he asked, “Sister Kristen? Is there something wrong?”
Kristen didn’t hide the truth from Zhao Hai. In fact, this matter was already known by the top level powers in the continent, so there was no reason to keep it a secret.
After listening to Kristen, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile faintly and said, “It doesn’t matter. If I can’t do it, then I don’t really care.”